Relationships between neighborhood built environment characteristics and children’s average time outdoors on weekdays were investigated in Dhaka, Bangladesh. A total of 22 built environment variables, 8 socio-demographic variables, and 1 perceptual variable were tested for their relationship to children’s (N = 109) self-reported average time outdoors on weekdays, measured in minutes. Built environment variables were measured using Geographic Information Systems (GIS)-based urban form variables and systematic, direct observation. Analysis was conducted using multiple linear regression. Results (p < .01) suggest that additional minutes of children’s average time outdoors on weekdays are associated with availability of adjacent space (23 min), male child (23 min), dead-end instead of through street in front of residence (15 min), perception of neighborhood safety by parents (10 min), one story lower in level of residence floor (3 min), and 1,000 m2 less of total building footprint area within the neighborhood (1 min).
Abu-GhazzehM. T. (1998). Children’s use of the street as a playground in Abu-Nuseir, Jordan. Environment and Behavior, 30, 799-831.
2.
AliT. (2008, October5). Leasing out part of playground to deprive locals of open space. The Daily Star (Dhaka). Available from http://archive.thedailystar.net
3.
AliT. (2013, November21). Public playground grabbed: Private club makes it off-limits to public despite HC orders. The Daily Star (Dhaka). Available from http://archive.thedailystar.net
4.
AppleyardD. (1981). Livable streets. Berkeley: University of California Press.
5.
BergM.MedrichE. (1980). Children in four neighborhoods: The physical environment and its effect on play and play patterns. Environment and Behavior, 12, 320-348.
6.
BjörklidP. (1982). Children’s outdoor environment: A study of children’s outdoor activities on two housing estates from the perspective of environmental and developmental psychology. Stockholm, Sweden: Liber Förlag Lund/Stockholm Institute of Education.
7.
BrazaM. F.ShoemakerW.SeeleyA. (2004). Neighborhood design and rates of walking and biking to elementary school in 34 California communities. American Journal of Health Promotion, 19, 128-136.
8.
BrodersenN. H.SteptoeA.WardleJ. (2005). Sociodemographic, developmental, environmental, and psychological correlates of physical activity and sedentary behavior at age 11 to 12. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 29, 2-11.
9.
BronfenbrennerU. (1979). The ecology of human development: Experiments by nature and design. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
10.
BrownB. B. (1985). Social cohesiveness, territoriality, and holiday decorations: The influence of cul-de-sacs. Environment and Behavior, 17, 539-565.
11.
CarverA.TimperioA.CrawfordD. (2008). Neighborhood road environments and physical activity among youth: The CLAN study. Journal of Urban Health, 85, 532-544.
12.
CerveroR. (1996). Mixed land-uses and commuting: Evidence from the American Housing Survey. Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 30, 361-377.
13.
CerveroR.DuncanM. (2003). Walking, bicycling, and urban landscapes: Evidence from the San Francisco Bay Area. American Journal of Public Health, 93, 1478-1483.
14.
CerveroR.KockelmanK. (1997). Travel demand and the 3Ds: Density, diversity, and design. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, 2, 199-219.
15.
ChawlaL. (Ed.). (2002). Growing up in an urbanizing world. Paris, France: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.
16.
ChurchmanA. (1999). Disentangling the concept of density. Journal of Planning Literature, 13, 389-411.
17.
CloutierM. S. (2010). Different school environments, different parental attitudes: Knowledge, beliefs and risk perception regarding child pedestrian road safety in an urban setting. Children, Youth and Environments, 20, 257-275.
18.
Cooper MarcusC.SarkissianW. (1986). Housing as if people mattered: Site guidelines for medium-density family housing. Berkeley: University of California Press.
19.
DanielsS. R. (2006). The consequences of childhood overweight and obesity. The Future of Children, 16, 47-68.
20.
DriskelD. (2002). Creating better cities with children and youth: A manual for participation. London, England: Earthscan.
21.
EvansG. W. (2001). Residential density and psychological health among children in low-income families. Environment and Behavior, 33, 165-180.
22.
EvansG. W.RicciutiH. N.HopeS.SchoonI.BradleyR. H.CorwynR. F. (2010). Crowding and cognitive development: The mediating role of maternal responsiveness among 36-month-old children. Environment and Behavior, 42, 135-148.
23.
EvansG. W.WellsN. M.MochA. (2003). Housing and mental health: A review of the evidence and a methodological and conceptual critique. Journal of Social Issues, 59, 475-500.
24.
EwingR.SchroeerW.GreeneW. (2004). School location and student travel. Transportation Research Record, 1895, 55-63.
25.
FerreiraI.van der HorstK.Wendel-VosW.KremersS.van LentheF. J.BrugJ. (2006). Environmental correlates of physical activity in youth—A review and update. Obesity Reviews, 8, 129-154.
26.
FrankL. D.AndresenM. A.SchmidT. L. (2004). Obesity relationships with community design, physical activity, and time spent in cars. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 27, 87-96.
27.
FrankL. D.EngelkeP. O.SchmidT. L. (2003). Health and community design: The impact of the built environment on physical activity. Washington, DC: Island Press.
28.
FrankL. D.PivoG. (1994). Impacts of mixed use and density on utilization of three modes of travel: Single-occupant vehicle, transit, and walking. Transportation Research Record, 1466, 44-52.
29.
FrankL. D.SchmidT.SallisJ. F.ChapmanJ.SaelensB. E. (2005). Linking objectively measured physical activity with objectively measured urban form. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 28(2, Suppl. 2), 117-125.
30.
HandyS.CaoX.MokhtarianP. (2008). Neighborhood design and children’s outdoor play: Evidence from Northern California. Children, Youth and Environments, 18, 160-179.
31.
HartR. (1979). Children’s experience of place. New York, NY: Irvington Publishers.
32.
HillmanM.AdamsJ. G. U. (1992). Children’s freedom and safety. Children’s Environments, 9(2), 10-22.
33.
HochschildT. R. (2013). Cul-de-sac kids. Childhood, 20, 229-243.
34.
IslamM. Z. (2012). Using Google Earth to study children’s neighborhoods: An application in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Children, Youth and Environments, 22, 93-111.
35.
IslamN.MahbubA. Q. M.NazemN. I.AngelesG.LanceP. (2005). Slums in urban Bangladesh: Mapping and census. Dhaka, Bangladesh: Center for Urban Studies (CUS), National Institute of Population Research and Training (NIPORT) and MEASURE Evaluation.
36.
KarstenL.Van VlietW. (2006). Children in the city: Reclaiming the street. Children, Youth and Environments, 16, 151-167.
37.
KempermanA. D. A. M.TimmermansH. J. P. (2011). Children’s recreational physical activity. Leisure Sciences, 33, 183-204.
38.
KhanS. H.TalukderM. S. H. (2011, November16). Youths at risk: Act on diabetes now!The Daily Star (Dhaka). Available from http://archive.thedailystar.net
39.
KimW. (1997). Effect of dwelling floor level on factors related to residential satisfaction and home environment in high-rise apartments (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Texas A&M University, College Station.
40.
KligermanM.SallisJ. F.RyanS.FrankL. D.NaderP. R. (2007). Association of neighborhood design and recreation environment variables with physical activity and body mass index in adolescents. American Journal of Health Promotion, 21, 274-277.
41.
KockelmanK. M. (1997). Travel behavior as function of accessibility, land use mixing, and land use balance: Evidence from San Francisco Bay Area. Transportation Research Record, 1607, 116-125.
42.
KuoF. E. (2002). Bridging the gap: How scientists can make a difference. In BechtelR. B.ChurchmanA. (Eds.), Handbook of environmental psychology (pp. 335-346). New York, NY: John Wiley.
43.
KyttäM. (2004). The extent of children’s independent mobility and the number of actualized affordances as criteria for child-friendly environments. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 24, 179-198.
44.
LaskarR. (2006, October11). Does anyone care for a children’s park?The Daily Star (Dhaka). Available from http://archive.thedailystar.net
45.
LiL. H. (2011). Impact of housing design factors on children’s conduct at school: An empirical study of Hong Kong. Journal of Housing and the Built Environment, 26, 427-439.
46.
LouvR. (2005). Last child in the woods: Saving our children from nature-deficit disorder. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill.
47.
LuoJ.HuF. B. (2002). Time trends of obesity in pre-school children in China from 1989 to 1997. International Journal of Obesity, 26, 553-558.
48.
MarchioneM. (2013, November20). Study: Kids are less fit than their parents were. The Denver Post. Available from http://news.yahoo.com/
49.
MaxwellL. E. (2003). Home and school density effects on elementary school children: The role of spatial density. Environment and Behavior, 35, 566-578.
50.
MolnarB. F.GortmakerS. L.GortmakerS. F.BullF. C.BullF. F.BukaS. L. (2004). Unsafe to play? Neighborhood disorder and lack of safety predict reduced physical activity among urban children and adolescents. American Journal of Health Promotion, 18, 378-386.
51.
MooreR. (1986). Childhood’s domain: Play and place in child development. London, England: Croom Helm.
52.
MooreR. (1987). Streets as playgrounds. In Vernez-MoudenA. (Ed.), Public streets for public use (pp. 45-62). New York, NY: Van Nostrand Reinhold.
53.
MooreR.Cooper MarcusC. (2008). Healthy planet, healthy children: Designing nature into the daily spaces of childhood. In KellertS. R.HeerwagenJ.MadorM. (Eds.), Biophilic design: The theory, science and practice of bringing buildings to life (pp. 153-204). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.
54.
MooreR.YoungD. (1978). Childhood outdoors: Towards a social ecology of the landscape. In AltmanI.WohlwillJ. F. (Eds.), Children and the environment (pp. 83-130). New York, NY: Plenum.
55.
NormanG. J.NutterS. K.RyanS.SallisJ. F.CalfasK. J.PatrickK. (2006). Community design and access to recreational facilities as correlates of adolescent physical activity and body-mass index. Journal of Physical Activity & Health, 3(Suppl. 1), S118-S128.
56.
O’BrienM.JonesD.SloanD.RustinM. (2000). Children’s independent spatial mobility in the urban public realm. Childhood, 7, 257-277.
57.
PrezzaM.PacilliM. G. (2007). Current fear of crime, sense of community, and loneliness in Italian adolescents: The role of autonomous mobility and play during childhood. Journal of Community Psychology, 35, 151-170.
58.
SaegertS. (1982). Environments and children’s mental health: Residential density and low income children. In BaumA.SingerJ. E. (Eds.), Handbook of psychology and health (pp. 241-271). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
59.
SallisJ. F.GlanzK. (2006). The role of built environments in physical activity, eating, and obesity in childhood. The Future of Children, 16, 89-108.
60.
SallisJ. F.KerrJ. (2006). Physical activity and the built environment. Research Digest, 7(4), 1-8.
61.
SallisJ. F.NaderP. R.BroylesS. L.BerryC. C.ElderJ. P.McKenzieT. L. (1993). Correlates of physical activity at home in Mexican-American and Anglo-American preschool children. Health Psychology, 12, 390-398.
62.
SallisJ. F.ProchaskaJ. J.TaylorW. C. (2000). A review of correlates of physical activity of children and adolescents. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 32, 963-975.
63.
SchneiderM.StokolsD. (2008). Multi-level theories of behavior change: Social ecological theories. In SchumakerS. A.OckeneJ. K.RiekertK. A. (Eds.), Handbook of health behavior change (3rd ed., pp. 85-105). New York, NY: Springer.
64.
ShafiqueS.AkhterN.StallkampG.de PeeS.PanagidesD.BloemM. (2007). Trends of under- and overweight among rural and urban poor women indicate the double burden of malnutrition in Bangladesh. International Journal of Epidemiology, 36, 449-457.
TimperioA.BallK.SalmonJ.RobertsR.Giles-CortiB.SimmonsD.. . .CrawfordD. (2006). Personal, family, social, and environmental correlates of active commuting to school. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 30, 45-51.
67.
TimperioA.CrawfordD.TelfordA.SalmonJ. (2004). Perceptions about the local neighborhood and walking and cycling among children. Preventive Medicine, 38, 39-47.
68.
TrostS. G.PateR. R.SallisJ. F.FreedsonP. S.TaylorW. C.DowdaM.. . .SirardM. (2002). Age and gender differences in objectively measured physical activity in youth. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 34, 350-355.
69.
United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. (2012). World urbanization prospects: The 2012 revision. Retrieved from http://esa.un.org/wpp/
70.
van AndelJ. (1998, August9-14). Children’s use of neighborhood public space in relation to density. Paper presented at the 24th Congress of the International Association of Applied Psychology, San Francisco, CA.
71.
VossL. D.HoskingJ.MetcalfB. S.JefferyA. N.WilkinT. J. (2008). Children from low-income families have less access to sports facilities, but are no less physically active: Cross-sectional study (EarlyBird 35). Child: Care, Health and Development, 34, 470-474.
72.
WardC. (1978). The child in the city. New York, NY: Pantheon Books.
73.
Whitt-GloverM. C.TaylorW. C.FloydM. F.YoreM. M.YanA. (2009). Disparities in physical activity and sedentary behaviors among U.S. children and adolescents: Prevalence, correlates, and intervention implications. Journal of Public Health Policy, 30, S309-S334.
74.
WilsonD. K.KirtlandK. A.AinsworthB. E.AddyC. L. (2004). Socioeconomic status and perceptions of access and safety for physical activity. Annals of Behavioral Medicine, 28, 20-28.
